Articles in the archive contain broken links because
outdated files are removed.

January
10, 1997

ThreeWave CTF UpdateThere's a big update on ThreeWave in which Zoid explains
his thinking in not allowing you to drop a rune or flag. He is also putting out a call for
levels, but he's going to "be a lot more picky about the levels this time
around," so if you are interested, be sure to go there and read the details so you
understand what he means.

CTF Bot
Speaking of CTF, I got the following mail from Drew
'BZ' Davidson that describes a bot that will allow solo CTF:

CTF Bot is a totally new Quake C bot combined with ThreeWave
Capture the Flag version 3.5. With CTF Bot you can play ThreeWave Capture the Flag by
yourself, against a team of bots. You can also spawn bots on your team to help you kill.

CTF Bot has been coded from the ground up specifically for
CTF. CTF Bot knows how to use the grappling hook, and will try to use the hook to get
normally inaccessible items or to escort human players. For example, CTF Bot can use the
hook to get the Quad, megahealth, and red armor in The Strongbox (ctf8).

In addition, CTF Bot uses a waypoint scheme on certain maps
so that it can find its way in and out of the bases. The maps that CTF Bot currently has
waypoints for include ctf1 through ctf8 (i.e. the maps in the ThreeWave CTF client mod).
On waypoint maps CTF Bot may capture your flag very quickly if you're not careful! CTF Bot
can also be played on other maps, it just won't capture your flag.

CTF Bot also features dynamic CTF map creation, so you can
easily turn any map into a CTF map. With an impulse you can create the red or blue flag
and team spawn points, or create a respawning base stockpile of health, armor, ammo and
weapons.

CTF Bot contains many other features, including detailed
scoring, ordering bots on your team to attack or defend, bot in-game chatter, and 100
different names for bots. Source code is included.

QCHQ MIARobin Russell wrote to point out
the QCHQ has been evicted, so to speak, from their
domain, which I presume is because they were sponsored by the now defunct QFL. Robin also forwards the word from babylou that the new
URL is soon to come.

QFL DefunctThe QFL has shut down. I got the
following message from Mark L. Kupsc, which also
appears on their website:

Because of various issues surrounding most of the QFL team,
we can no longer afford to focus our efforts on the QFL project anymore. There is just too
much going on in "Real-Life", and for QFL to work, it would require attention we
can not give it. We made a run at revolutionizing Quake, but we fell shot. Thanks to
everyone who supported us. We are sorry about this, but rest assured that in the future,
when we have more time and a brilliant idea, you will see us on the block again. However,
someone is trying to salvage the program. Check out the QFL Crisis Page at "http://www.cybercom.net/~chrisl/qfl_crisis.html".

Once again, I had a blast, and we're talking about making it a regular thing... As in
the past I am extremely interested in honest feedback, whether you love it, or hate it (or
are completely indifferent).

HipnoticI got an email from Paradox
(Tom Mustaine), legend of Doom, and Hipnotic level
designer (and more), with some info on Hipnotic and their upcoming Quake add-on CD The
Scourge of Armagon (formerly The Rift). Tom points out that some of the
Hipnotic crew regularly update their .plan files "...about recent events, our Quake
pack, or anything else thats on our minds. Expect some details on our upcoming quake-tech
game in there soon."

You'll also notice an interesting challenge in there. Paradox is challenging both
Cash AND tokay to a two versus one deathmatch (wow!).

Paradox promises to update "very soon" with some details about new stuff they
have added to the engine to help the editing community stay on top of the new features
they are building into the game.

Gameplay FAQThis is interesting. The Quake
Multiplayer Gameplay FAQ outlines its author's feelings about game design and
gameflow, etc. Definitely worth a read, especially for those interested in creating TC's
and game design.

Lost DOS Frag CountsDalias sends word of his
Quake C server patch that fixes the problem of lost frag counts, and other messaging
problems that plague players using B&W's DOS PPP stack to play Quake. Available on Epicenter.

WinnersContest winners! Congratulations to the winner of the guess the score of
tokay v. Cash contest, Ake Wallebom (who won on
a tie-breaker drawing), who will receive a SpaceOrb. Also the winners of the big
Worldcraft pre-fab contest are up on Impulse 1.

Romero's .planMore from the Romero:

We have begun designing our new games and will be fully
staffed in a short while. Kee has added translucency to
the Quake engine so we can do some cool visual effects
with all the models and sprites.

Much more to come!

January
9, 1997

We Have a WinnerThe deathmatch between American McGee and John Cash has finally taken
place! American is the winner, by the narrow margin of 10-8. Here are the promised demos (one from each point-of-view), so this
also provides a nice opportunity to see a couple of skilled players in action. I'll post
the name of the winner of the contest tonight or tomorrow (thanks to all who entered). Patrick Cupka (of the Void) points out that John updated his .plan.
Damn, I know tokay joked about mailbombing Cash, but I would have hoped no one would
really do it (I guess I should have said so):

Well, we did it. American and I *finally* had our deathmatch.
He won 10-8; I guess I should be sad I lost, but since he was
expecting something like 20 to -2... I'll take it. The demos
are being uploaded so you can see for yourselves. I'm Hellrot
and he's tokay. OK, now for the hard part:

Congratulations American.

Oh yeah, you can stop the mail bombing now, OK.

And thanks to Craig (aka blastfemur) for the news
that American did to:

Wow... Cash and I just finished playing our
DeathMatch. All this time I kept thinking
that I would beat him 64 to -10 or something
but he gave me a really good fight.

I will certainly give him more respect the
next time we play :)

Finger RomeroKee Kimbrell from Ion Storm let me
know that John Romero updated his finger.
At least he didn't say he was going to "Prey" before going to bed:

My plan is to be a good little boy, and to pray before
going to bed at night. I also would like to do some
charity work on the side if I have time.
(File last updated on Thu 09 Jan 1997 at 11:23)

PseudoJoost is in town for another day, so we're gonna drop in on Pseudo again tonight (Live from 9:00-10:00 PM EST) to be
part of the QuakeCast. As with last week, the idea is to focus a little more on content
that is genuinely interesting to Quake players than perhaps they have in the past (I can
be so gentle with my words when I put my mind to it), so I'm very interested in feedback.

ZeusBot 2.042There were a couple of small problems with the recent ZeusBot release (the
DeathCam was disabled, and DM2 didn't work), so author Nelno the Amoeba has released ZeusBot 2.042 (also available on QCHQ). BTW, Nelno says he has no self-esteem
problem--"It's actually supposed to be a really, really large amoeba..."

QFrontThe new QFront version 2.8, one of the
original, and best, Quake front-ends has been released (also at cdrom.com). This is a Win95
app that can help you organize your patches, maps, etc.

KaboomJust thought I'd make sure to spread the word that there was a
misunderstanding about what went on with the Master Servers crashing, and if you were
hatemailing or mailbombing Price Hall, you should cool it because you are punishing an
innocent man.

RedwoodRedwood's not dead. I've exchanged a couple
of mails with him at Compaq, and the reason his page hasn't been updated is because he
still doesn't have a home phone. He's expecting it to be hooked up soon...

FargoThere's an interesting editorial on Fargo's Frontpage (also accessible
though the "Gibbage" section on PlanetQuake)
that reflects on the difficulties inherent in trying to create some order out of the Chaos
of clan warfare, as well as whether or not such organization is called for. Related
reading is the ClanRing League.

Shake 'N' QuakeThere's an explanation from O-Dog
on Shake 'N' Quake about why he
is giving up updating the news portion of the page, and that it is likely that SNQ will
continue without a news section.

John Carmack InterviewThis is very cool. I received an email from Dark Requiem's DR_Bone that contained an interview with John Carmack.
It will end up being posted on DR's site, but since it is chock full of information of
interest to Quakers, he was kind enough to send it here (thanks Bone!). This interview
answers some serious questions about the recent rash of departures from id (which I know
from my email is a topic of concern for many of us), the Next Technology (which has been
dubbed "trinity" for the moment, we learn here for the first time), John
Romero's departure ("Romero was pushed out of id because he wasn't working hard
enough."), Unreal, and more. Please read the comments both Bone and John make about
the advisability (or lack thereof) of bugging John with email, questions, and interviews.
Here's the John Carmack Interview.

QuakeWorld StatsWilliam Anthony Stubbs has cooked
up a cool web page, BAz's QuakeWorld
Stats Query, that allows you to query QuakeWorld player stats through the web. You can
also add a link from your own home page so visitors can get an up to the minute listing of
your stats.

Haiku IIYep, when I wrote about Buzman's Haiku page earlier, I was thinking the Quake Haiku Page had gone the way of all things...
and of course I was wrong, it's alive and well (better than ever, in fact...). Sorry about
that, thanks to Ramirez for setting me
straight. Or, in Haiku format*

QCFEBrandon Ording sent along word of
his QCFE 1.0 (570 KB), a Windows 95 patch launcher that
finds your patches and can load maps and all that good stuff.

QAPThe Quake Associated Poll, the larger of the upcoming clan polling
endeavors (in addition to the CLP), has got
a small temporary page up to explain a
little about itself. Ryan Pohlman (sin), is
encouraging all clan members to check it out and ask any further questions they may have,
as it will help him in the development process.

Master Servers OnlineDisruptor's Master server (204.50.178.66) is back online. As described earlier, you will now
have a lower userid on that server than before. Here is the procedure for obtaining your
new userid (from the RevCo Page):

qwcl -master 204.50.178.66
user "name"
Replace "name" with your name and don't forget to include quotes if you name has
a space in it. It will spit back all the userinfo including your userid.

LAN PhotosChaos, leader of the Ruthless
Bastards, wrote to say they were listing the sites with photos from the I9 LAN Party that
took place this weekend on their page.
As Chaos says:

Now you can see real-life pics of your favorite Quake heroes
from the Ruthless Bastards, Impulse9, IHOS, and more. And it proves that we Quakers CAN
interact physically ;).

QuakeWorld
Master Server UpdateI got word from Disruptor that
his Master Server (204.50.178.66) will be going down at 6:00 PM this evening for about an
hour of maintenance and a rebuild of the userbase. The rebuild means that when the server
goes back up, most users will have a new (lower) userid. There are details on the RevCo page on how to deal with your new userid, as
well as more information on why this is necessary.

Meanwhile, thanks to Noah Eames for the word
that the Best.com Master Server (206.86.0.22) is back in action.

C.L.P.A site similar to that "Quake Associated Press" poll I mentioned
yesterday has sprung up. Smaller than the QAP the Clan Leaders Poll, or C.L.P. the intent is to
have Clan leaders vote for the Best Clans by category... the idea is to perhaps ultimately
have an "All-Star game" of sorts.

Italian QuakeWorld SiteHere's a small QuakeWorld site in
Italy which has files and info for a faster link to a lot of European locales.

The Million MysteryI was wondering yesterday if the millionth visitor was going to drop me a
line, and he did today... it turns out Travis
"duck" Driscoll thought the counter was frozen in some commemoration of the
occasion. Nope, Travis, you were the one. Thanks for writing.

European Master ServerThe European QuakeWorld Master Server is now up and running. The related webpage (currently pretty bare)
will support users of the server. Feedback on the server's operation should be sent to qw@minos.co.uk. The new Master Server's address is:

Site-SeeingHexen II-oriented The Chaos
Sphere has a new address (and a new message board) ... The weekly newsletter
CounterStrike, which you can get from the CounterStrike
Page, summarizes the week's Quake news happenings and includes all the related files
... There's more on that new CTF-type mod (now Dubbed the "Red Alert" CTF Mod)
at Hermiti's Alaskan Quake Page, which is now
that project's homepage ... Okay, try this on for size: The site formerly known as the Gulf Breeze Quake Site (a bad name for a Quake editing site) is
changing its name to Quake Level Editing News
(better, no?), which, as you may recall, was the former name of Means of Destruction (which was
briefly the Quake Newsstand in between, just to keep you on
your toes).

January
6, 1997

ClanNET HomepageClanNET, the new IRC network designed to create a meeting place for clans
without some of the problems inherent in other IRC networks, has got a homepage. Check in to keep tabs on this fast
growing (currently 5 servers and over 50 channels) network.

Worldcraft CD WoesThere is an explanation on the Worldcraft Page of why the CD's are just
going out now... there are a few factors involved, and they are apologizing for the lack
of Christmas delivery.

QuakeWorld Server ListsBrian Smith of Focus of Quake dropped a note to let
everyone know he's finished his QuakeWorld
server listing page. I'm a QSpy man myself, but Brian isn't, and if you're like him,
maybe this is for you. Also, apparently [deicide]'s
QuakeWorld server list has been up for a couple of days, and [deicide] informs me that
he's almost completed his next project, a web mirror of entire idgames archive from
ftp.cdrom.com in htmlized form with descriptions/sizes/emails etc. listed.

Mike Wilson Leaves id to Join ION Storm as
CEOMike Wilson is leaving id Software to join John Romero, Tom Hall, and
Shawn Green at ION Storm, as he details in the following email:

I don't have a .plan file. :)

My last day here is tomorrow. I resigned as Director of
Marketing and Distribution at id, and after a brief stop in Cancun, will start work as the
CEO of Ion Storm on Jan 15th.

I'm going to begin constructing a page that I think clans may
find of some interest. I dont want to get too into details since I havent even finalized
the web page, but what it is going to be is a system that will act as a ranking system for
the top clans, muck like the ones used in college football and basketball. It's
tentatively titled the 'Quake Associated Poll'. It involves voting from clan members so
I'm hoping it will do good for the Quake community. If you could post something on your
page directing questions and comments to me I would appreciate it.

Quake ArticleThere is an article about Quake in today's Wall Street Journal (thanks to T.J. Arrowsmith), paid subscribers can access via the WSJ Online. The same article, it turns out, is in the San Jose Mercury News
(thanks to Alex Dimson). The author of the
article, Dean Takahashi, interviewed me, but I guess I was too boring, or something, to be
included... The article turned out okay anyway <g>, and he did find some expertise,
as he does quote Bastard from PlanetQuake. Of course the usual compliment of
errors are included, like listing Quake's RAM requirement as 32 MB (sure to convince 99%
of the article's readers they can't play the game). Other funny quirks include an odd
glossary that defines things like "Lagard: Someone with a slow modem" (I've
never seen the word laggard used in Quake--reminds me of old drug awareness pamphlets that
listed 'Mary Jane' as a slang term for marijuana), and a screenshot of a player fighting
two Hell Knights captioned "A 'camper' about to 'frag' his opponents." Still,
the mass awareness increases...

Thanks a Million!What can I say on the occasion of Blue's News' one millionth visitor(!),
but thank you all for helping make this site one severely out-of-control success. Thanks
to all you loyal readers (hell, even the un-loyal ones), thanks all of you who go to the
trouble to mail me to keep me up-to-date and straightened out, and thanks to everyone who
actually produce Quake products, projects, add-ons, artwork, stories, and all that good
stuff. On some levels this site is a one man show, but on others it is also one huge
cooperative effort... thanks to the so many of you who are part of it. Thanks, thanks,
thanks... I'm sure I sound maudlin (I'd like to thank the academy... *sniff*), but I do
appreciate everyone's help.

Mystery PromoI only have a vague idea of what's being hyped here, but the QuakeLab is cool, so:

Deathmatch Weenie TipsThere are loads of tips recently added to the Quake Weenie Website, as well as a
little mascot with "Quake Fortune Cookies" you might want to check out.

New Dank & ScudDank & Scud Issue 3: Marine Corpse, has come out. Here's the
new location of The Adventures of Dank & Scud
(though the old one won't be removed--they need the mirrors for these graphically
intensive works). As for the future, author Michael
Houston explains:

Before we start creating issue 4, we're going to spend the
next few months creating a sort of "Dank & Scud Interactive" section of the
site. This'll include all the odd ideas we've had for D&S that couldn't be done with a
comic. Rather than make the comic more media-infested with animations, sound clips and
what-not (thereby making it less of a comic), we decided to create a new section which
would contain all these things and more. Quake, combined with the Internet, spans
countless forms of media, and we don't want Dank and Scud to be limited to just one.

So, please don't ask when issue 4 will be out - we won't
start it until after March. Instead, ask when The Official Dank & Scud Win95 Desktop
Theme will be out!

PlanetQuake Master ServerBastard sends along the news
that PlanetQuake has launched their QuakeWorld
Master Server:

204.182.161.2

Dip User AwardsThe results of the 1996 Dip User awards at Putz have been tallied. Congrats to
all the winners. Thanks to everyone who voted for Blue's News (winner for the best news
site), I appreciate that. I also appreciate being voted "person of the year"
(eeek), though I've gotta say, I would vote for just about every other nominee over me in
that category...

Sujoy's Name ChangeI didn't think the email from the Future Cafe with a subject line
"Greets from Hong Kong" was from anyone I knew, but much to my surprise, it was
Sujoy Roy! He sends his regards from his vacation (he'll be back soon), and tells me he's
looking to change the name of Sujoy's
Quake Pages, so anyone with suggestions should email Sujoy.

Impulse 1Readers of Toby Goldstone's
site, Impulse 1, are
probably a little concerned (I know I was) at the way updates suddenly stopped. Toby just
returned my email, and it turns out he was simply on vacation, and had arranged for
someone else to update his site, which obviously didn't happen (for reasons yet to be
determined). But Toby is okay, and wants to mention that winners of the WorldCraft contest
will be announced "around Thursday or Friday of this coming week."

Calling Mr. BlackwellNow this is different. Check out the Clan Fashion Page, which critiques
clan skins. This page is hysterical (thanks to Anders
Hallberg for the word). Also, you tent-pitchers out there (that sounds like a stronger
euphemism, doesn't it?) might want to check out "campers paradise," one of the
sections on the recently completed Brain-Dead Quake Page (and
they say all the good names are taken).

Aussie Dial Up ServerThere's a dial-up service starting up in the Sydney, Australia area called
HeadRush. It's going to
become a pay service, but $30 a month for unlimited time of what's described as 115-160
ping Quake might be something you killers down under might be interested in knowing about.

QuakeWorld LocalHere's version 1.1 of QuakeWorld Local,
the popular program that simulates a local master server, allowing you to play QuakeWorld
on a LAN without an Internet connection. Now with support for server lists and skill &
efficiency calculations. The program's author, Nick
Maher, has also added a table view of all user statistics which can be sorted by any
key. For stat freaks, it will even export all the statistics so you can load them into a
spreadsheet. Here is the QuakeWorld
Local Page.

January
4, 1997

American's .planThanks to Vorpal Kreep for pointing out
that American added sCary to his .plan (I am not at all jealous at being left out of this
one):

scary is a burnt monkey.

Shawn Green to Join Romero and Hall at Ion
Storm!I got an intriguing email from Shawn Green suggesting I check his .plan:

As of 1-2-97 I have resigned my position
at id Software as Project Manager.

1. Mini (emphasis on mini) blurb/interview with Tim Sweeney
(Unreal programming team) with more of an emphasis on editing and some similarities and
differences between Quake and Unreal.

2. The speeder bike brush model looks nice. It does. Really.
:)

Site SeeingTwo sites that are trying to evolve away from the news scene: Check out Red Silencer's page, which has
become a repository for help wanted ads for TC's and stuff. And Infernal Newz which is (and I quote) "an all out
wacky Quake Page for the Quake Players" (nope, I'm not sure what that means either).

Japanese QSoccer ServerNo, not a Japanese QSoccer patch, a server in Japan running QSoccer. Check
it out at:

202.215.141.2

StonelessThere's a new Quake Editor called Stoneless that's just
sprung up. The program's author, David Jewsbury,
tells me he plans on making it the best editor around.

EloïnzThe Eloïnz
site (Quake Editor) has been updated, and contains info on the upcoming 1.0 release.

Ping Improvements?There's a very interesting interview with a guy who runs an ISP (which the
author reputes to be the fastest in the twin-cities area) on the Night Breed Clan's page. The article has
some hints on how to get your best ping and how to look for a good ISP for Quake players.

School DazeThanks to Dennis Leung
for sending word of this paper
a student named 'James' wrote for his anthropology class
on the "ethnography culture" of Quake Clans (don't laugh--he got a 99, and
maintains a 4.0 GPA). In the process, he reviews the line of id shooters starting with
Wolf3d...